Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room

An ongoing presentation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room” is a fabricated domestic space conceived around New York City’s historic Seneca Village, which was located in an area that is now part of Central Park. A community of predominantly Black landowners, Seneca Village was seized by eminent domain and its residents displaced in 1857 in order to make room for the park. Titled for the words of Virginia Hamilton, retelling the legend of the Flying African, The Met’s presentation embraces the African belief that past, present, and future are interconnected, proposing a visual tale of what could have been if Seneca Village had not been destroyed through an array of works, including commissions from Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Fabiola Jean-Louis, and Jenn Nkiru.